The race to succeed Gretchen Whitmer heats up

Politico

11-03-2025

What up, Recast fam! On today's agenda:
Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist is trying to do something that hasn't been done in recent memory in the state — be elevated to the Great Lakes State's top office.
After serving as the No. 2 to Gretchen Whitmer, the popular but term-limited governor, Gilchrist is banking that Michiganders will vote for him to not just make history as the state's first Black governor, but be the first lieutenant governor to succeed their boss in the governor's mansion since William Milliken succeeded Gov. George Romney in 1969.
Gilchrist, who stands 6 feet, 8 inches tall, hopes to become a towering figure in Michigan for his political acumen as well, though he's leaning into his height by utilizing a hashtag that urges voters to #StandTall for Michigan. Aside from stature, he's touting his background as a former software engineer at Microsoft who jokes about himself as self-proclaimed 'nerd' as part of his case for why he's best suited to succeed Whitmer.
'When you've got problems, you get an engineer to come fix them,' Gilchrist told POLITICO. 'When systems are broken you get an engineer to get those systems to work better for people and this is a moment to do that.'
His candidacy for governor has been expected for some time. He decided to forgo a run for the open U.S. Senate seat last month and instead focus on the state Legislature where, as the lieutenant governor, he presides over the state Senate.
His candidacy sets him on a collision course with another prominent Democrat: Jocelyn Benson, Michigan's secretary of state, who launched her candidacy for governor in January. And Detroit's longtime Mayor Mike Duggan announced he was seeking to replace Whitmer back in December and plans to run as an independent. Other candidates may still enter the race.
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When asked if a Whitmer endorsement would help his prospects in the Democratic primary, Gilchrist demurred, instead focusing on their strong partnership in Lansing.
'I'm proud to continue to stand with her and work with her,' Gilchrist tells The Recast. 'And she's been incredibly supportive of me, because she picked me on purpose. We worked together purposefully to solve important problems.'
Whitmer, who notes she knows Benson, Duggan and Gilchrist well, has said she will not endorse in the race.
In an interview at the end of last year Whitmer said that 'it's time to break tradition' and not be a sitting governor that endorses their running mate. 'There's also a tradition that none of them end up winning.'
A recent poll found Benson trouncing a hypothetical Democratic primary matchup that includes Gilchrist as well as the state's Attorney General Dana Nessel and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson, who launched his candidacy last month. Benson lapped the field, garnering 55 percent of the survey's Democratic primary voters, while Gilchrist was tied for second at 12 percent along with Nessel — who has not made any formal plans to run for governor.
Gilchrist had little political experience when Whitmer selected him as her running mate in 2018, but he added a progressive bona fides to the ticket and grew up in Detroit, long considered the engine of Michigan Democrats' voter base.
The field of Republicans vying for the gubernatorial nomination is also expected to be a crowded one. Michigan's Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt announced a campaign earlier this year, while the state's former Attorney General Mike Cox has formed a candidate committee, but has not formally launched his candidacy. Rep. John James (R-Mich.), the only Black elected official in Michigan's congressional delegation, is also eyeing a statewide run but has not decided if he wants to run for governor or the state's open Senate seat.
Michigan presents an important test for Democrats next cycle.
It was part of the so-called Blue Wall states that Kamala Harris was relying on but that Donald Trump successfully flipped in the fall. The 2024 election also saw Michigan Democrats cede power in the state, losing their governing trifecta with Republicans in control of the Michigan House of Representatives.
'Folks … were frustrated in 2024 because they haven't gotten the results,' Gilchrist says, rattling off a list of accomplishments from Whitmer's administration, including luring more tech industry jobs to Michigan.
In addition to next year's gubernatorial race, Democrats also have their sights on the state's open U.S. Senate race following the retirement of Sen. Gary Peters at the end of his current term. That, too, is attracting a crowded field on both sides of the aisle, including a potential bid by Pete Buttigieg, the former Transportation secretary, who recently met with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer about a possible run.
For his part, Gilchrist bolsters his candidacy by reminding voters he's visited all 83 of the state's counties during his two terms as lieutenant governor and served as a surrogate in the closing stretch of the Harris presidential campaign in Michigan conducting outreach to Black men.
Gilchrist has already secured a pledge for financial backing from the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association — a group that is looking to grow its influence by backing preferred candidates in primary elections. The group last month confirmed to POLITICO it was ready to spend roughly $1.5 million to support Gilchrist in his race.
We'll certainly be watching how this race plays out.
All the best,The Recast Team
AL GREEN MAKES POST-CENSURE MEDIA ROUNDS
Rep. Al Green, the Texas Democrat who was censured for interrupting Trump during his joint address to Congress last week, has made the media rounds in the days since his formal rebuke, calling his punishment both a 'double standard' and a form of 'invidious definition.'
'I was prepared to suffer the consequences when I decided that I would engage in a peaceful protest,' Green told CNN over the weekend when asked to weigh in on how his outburst was different from former Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) or Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who also shouted at sitting presidents — albeit Democratic ones — but never faced a censure. He added he was raised in the segregated South and he has 'acclimated to this type of behavior, but quite candidly it is a double standard.'
Green is Black, while Wilson and Green are white.
In an appearance on 'The Breakfast Club' radio program, co-host Charlamagne tha God referred to what Green did as 'good trouble' borrowing the phrase by the late civil rights icon and former Rep. John Lewis to describe peaceful but purposeful agitation and disruption.
'There is invidious discrimination in the House of Representatives,' Green explained. 'When the speaker decided I would be removed and then there was this motion, this resolution to censure me, it became obvious to me that I was not being treated as others were.'
He explained that his interruption was not planned, but felt compelled to confront the president to tell him he did not have a mandate to cut Medicaid as Trump professed he did.
Green's action has split Democrats, particularly those who felt like his actions were a 'distraction' from the party's strategy to counter Trump's policies, and breach of decorum.
Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.), one of 10 Democrats who sided with Republicans in approving the censure, suggested in an interview with NewsNation's 'The Hill Sunday' that confrontation was the wrong tactic.
'I'd say we need radical civility,' Bera said. 'Let's not be a distraction, and what Al did — he's a friend — but that was a distraction,' Bera added.
Others like Lauren Harper Pope, co-founder of WelcomePAC, which supports center-left candidates, agrees with Bera and the nine others who voted to censure. She added that if Democrats hope to win back the House in 2026, they should listen to 'winners' of competitive districts, not those in deep-blue ones like the one Green represents in Houston.
'The Democrats who voted to censure Rep. Green are the same depolarizers who know what it takes to win over voters in the most competitive districts,' she said in a statement to The Recast. 'Instead of defending polarizers, let's make a habit of listening to these Democrats who know how to win.'
WHAT WE'RE WATCHING THIS WEEK
The arrest of a Palestinian graduate student by immigration officials marks one of the most serious enforcement actions by the new Trump administration on both the immigration and pro-Palestinian student protester fronts, report POLITICO's Myah Ward and Irie Sentner. The administration had earlier vowed to cancel visas and green cards for anti-war protesters on college campuses.
Mahmoud Khalil, a student protest leader at Columbia who also holds a green card, was detained over the weekend, and a federal judge on Monday put his deportation on hold, POLITICO's Amanda Friedman reports.
What else we're watching:
TODAY'S CULTURE RECS
Turner honored in H-town: Rep. Sylvester Turner, who prior to being elected in November was the longtime mayor of Houston, will be remembered at a number of events for the public to pay respects to him in the city following his death on March 5.
Wendy Williams to be a guest on 'The View': The former daytime talk show is scheduled to call in to 'The View' this Friday, ABC announced last week. In recent weeks, Williams has been vocal about her fight to end a yearslong court-ordered guardianship and on Monday was taken to the hospital after a welfare check by police.
Billboard crowns rapper Doechii 'Woman of the Year': The red-hot rapper who recently added a Grammy and an NAACP Image Award, will be honored at a Billboard Women in Music event later this month.